TIRASPOL, January 22. /TASS/. The ministry of defense of the unrecognized Transdniestria republic has conducted a practice mobilization in a republic’s region bordering Ukraine’s Odessa region, Transdniestria’s Defense Minister Alexander Lukyanenko told journalists on Thursday.
“We all know what is going on with our neighbors, relatives and friends in Ukraine, we have been observing it for a year. That is why we conduct inspections and practice operations,” he said. However he refrained from commenting on the results of the drills, saying that military experts were yet to analyze the results.
Ukraine’s media reported recently that 500 servicemen of Ukraine’s National Guard had been commissioned from Kiev to the border with Transdniestria. Moreover, Ukraine accused Transdniestria of training subversive groups and of espionage activities in its territory. In 2014, Ukraine’s border service launched a campaign to make a 450-kilometer anti-tank trench along the Transdniestrian section of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border. Kiev claimed it was being done to secure itself against military invasion and to counteract smuggling.
In the meantime, Transdniestria’s security services said they had information about possible armed provocation at the border with Ukraine.